Dryan Arbitration Demand
Dryan Arbitration Demand
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AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION
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18 services to reap illicit financial gain, while harming Amazon and those who use its services.
19 Amazon brings this action both to protect its users from Respondents’ unlawful scheme and to
22 “Amazon”), gives independent authors and publishers the ability to publish works directly
25 eBook readers on Amazon. Authors control the rights to their works and can make changes to
26 their books at any time. Authors can set up an eBook for publication in minutes, and within 72
27 hours, the eBook appears for sale in the Amazon Kindle Store.
2 them through Kindle subscription reading programs. Kindle Unlimited (“KU”) permits
3 subscribers, for a monthly fee, to read as many books as they want from a selection of over one
4 million titles. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (“KOLL”) is a benefit for Amazon Prime
5 members, and it allows members to borrow one eBook per month at no additional cost. KDP
6 authors can choose to include their books in KU and KOLL by enrolling in an optional program
7 called KDP Select, which offers certain benefits to authors in exchange for making their eBooks
9 5. KDP authors participating in KDP Select earn monthly royalties based on the
10 number of pages of their eBooks that KU and KOLL customers read that month. Amazon
11 maintains a global royalty fund, from which KDP Select authors receive a share, calculated as a
12 percentage of the total number of pages read through KU and KOLL that month.
13 6. The more pages KU and KOLL customers read of an individual author’s books,
14 the larger the author’s share of the royalty fund becomes; and, accordingly, other authors will
15 receive less from the fund. The KDP royalty system thus depends on the integrity of a fair
16 allocation of page reads—i.e., that authors are not artificially inflating their page reads to the
18 7. Amazon thus employs various tools, including automated and manual reviews, to
19 protect against abuse of the KDP royalty system. Amazon also requires KDP authors to ensure
20 that no tactics used to promote their books manipulate Amazon eBook programs. If authors
21 cannot trust that the KDP royalty system fairly rewards page reads of their eBooks, that loss of
22 trust damages the integrity of the KDP program and the reputation of Amazon as a reliable and
24 8. KDP Select authors’ books are also available for sale to Amazon customers to
25 purchase at an individual price. These book sales counts towards a book’s “best seller’s rank” on
26 Amazon. The higher the book’s best seller’s rank, the more visible it becomes to customers,
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2 reading activity.
3 9. Another benefit that KDP Select offers to authors is the ability to select up to five
4 “promo days” out of each 90-day KDP Select enrollment period in which their eBook will be
5 available to customers to download for free. Books that are downloaded for free during the
6 promo days also count towards their Amazon best seller’s rank, and the promo days can have
8 10. Amazon prohibits KDP authors from publishing books that are undifferentiated
9 or barely differentiated from existing titles in the Kindle store for purposes of preserving a
11 11. Respondents have manipulated and abused the KDP service for financial gain
13 12. Amazon files this demand for arbitration against Respondents to protect Amazon
14 and its publishers against Respondents’ abuse of the KDP service, bringing claims for breach of
15 contract, intentional interference with contractual relations, and violation of the Washington
17 PARTIES
24 16. Jake Dryan is an individual residing in London, England. Mr. Dryan is the sole
25 director and officer of Green Publishing. Mr. Dryan is also an officer and director of Project
26 Olympus.
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2 published under different ASINs to create “new” books, and republished the “new” books under
3 new ASINs. This practice allowed Respondents to repeatedly re-enroll duplicate content in
4 KDP Select’s free promo days, in violation of Amazon’s policies, to artificially inflate their
6 23. Respondents have used bots and/or “clickfarms” to improperly inflate the amount
7 of page reads their books have received through the KU and KOLL programs.
9 threatens the integrity of the KDP service and the Amazon best seller lists.
10 CLAIMS
11 First Claim: Breach of Contract (Conditions of Use)
12 25. The Conditions of Use constitute a binding and enforceable contract between
14 26. The Conditions of Use state that “[n]o Amazon Service … may be … exploited
15 for any commercial purpose without express written consent of Amazon.” It further states that
18 Kindle Direct Publishing and Kindle Unlimited—for commercial use by using bots and/or
19 clickfarms to artificially inflate their page reads to increase KDP royalties. This practice also
21 28. Respondents’ material breaches have caused Amazon damage in the form of
23 Second Claim: Breach of Contract (Kindle Direct Publishing Terms and Conditions)
24 29. The Kindle Direct Publishing Terms and Conditions (the “KDP Terms”)
26 30. The KDP Terms incorporate “all rules and policies for participating in the
2 “[does not] accept books that provide a poor customer experience.” This “disappointing
3 content” includes “[c]ontent that is not significantly differentiated from another book available
4 in the Kindle Store” and “[c]ontent that is a non-differentiated version of another book available
5 in the Kindle Store.” The policies also prohibit “any manipulation of the Kindle Service.”
8 Respondents have exploited the KDP Select promo days benefit to artificially increase their
9 books’ Amazon best seller’s rank, to the detriment of other KDP authors and Amazon programs
11 33. On information and belief, Respondents have also manipulated the Kindle
12 Service with bots and/or clickfarms that have artificially inflated their page reads.
13 34. Respondents’ material breaches have caused Amazon damage in the form of
16 35. Every KDP author participating in KDP Select has agreed to the Terms and
17 Conditions for KDP Select Program (“KDP Select Terms”). Section 2.3 of the KDP Select
18 Terms establishes that Amazon will pay royalties to KDP authors based on a “proportionate
19 allocation” of the KDP Select fund, based on “how much of your content is read.”
20 36. Respondents know of the KDP Select Terms—a contract between Amazon and
21 other KDP authors—and have intentionally interfered with that relationship by artificially
22 inflating page reads to their exclusive benefit and to the detriment of other KDP authors.
24 Conditions of Use and the KDP Terms and Conditions—and for the improper purposes of (i)
25 artificially inflating their KDP royalties, (ii) gaining a windfall from improper manipulation of
26 the system, and (iii) harming other authors, Amazon, and the integrity of the KDP system.
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2 with KDP authors has caused Amazon damage in the form of reputational and monetary harm,
5 39. Respondents have engaged in unfair and deceptive acts and practices in violation
9 41. These acts and practices impact the public interest. By manipulating page views,
10 Respondents threaten the integrity of the KDP’s system of royalties. Respondents’ unfair acts
11 and practices affect not only authors (who may question whether they receive a fair royalty
12 share), but also readers (who would lose access to content if authors leave KDP because of
14 42. These unfair and deceptive acts and practices have proximately caused damage to
16 arbitration.
20 with Amazon’s contractual relationships with KDP authors, and to have committed an unfair or
22 B. That Respondents be found liable for, and ordered to pay, damages in an amount
23 to be proved in arbitration;
24 C. That Amazon be awarded treble damages and recover its reasonable attorneys’
27 and from interfering in its contractual and business relationships with KDP authors.
4 By s/ John A. Goldmark
John A. Goldmark, WSBA #40980
5 Tom Wyrwich, WSBA #45719
1201 Third Avenue, Suite 2200
6 Seattle, WA 98101-3045
Tel: (206) 622-3150; Fax: (206) 757-7700
7 Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
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